It’s absolutely fabulous outside, but I’m thinking, work on my painting. Yes that’s what I’m gonna do. I was out of town last week doing some interior house painting for a friend in Princeton, NJ. Picking up my “real brushes” will feel good. However, my most recent painting is not looking like the vision in my head; so maybe I’ll start a new one.

“Designated driver, on the information highway.”

April 29, 2003 by jfMac

Tuesday?

Of course it’s Tuesday; are you mad?

Mr. Potatoehead once told me, “there’s more to life than freecell.” However, when your brother has a winning streak of 118 games in a row and still counting, it does make you wonder.

Wonder what?

Where is my next cup of coffee?

What is my project for today?

What would I really like to be doing?

What should I be doing?

How come I’m doing what I’d like to be doing?

Why don’t I have 118 games in a row?

Do you really care about freecell?

Hell no.

What do you really care about then?

I guess what I really care about is being in the moment, but notice I said guess. Why do I have to guess what I really care about? Maybe what I care about changes from moment to moment, and that’s why it’s so important to be in the moment so I won’t mistake what’s important for what’s not. Oh that’s just crap.

Are you going to spend your whole life trying to figure out what’s important?

That does appear to be the case, but that’s not entirely true. Although, that doesn’t necessarily mean that when I’m not wondering about what’s important, I’m doing something important. Then again, maybe it does. Maybe that means I am what I doing; I am the doing.

But, if you’re not aware of yourself while doing it?

Doing what? Just kidding. Is it the doing, or the awareness of doing while doing? Boy that’s an awful lot of doing if you ask me. So often we forget ourselves; we are caught up in whatever it is we are doing. In some cases that seems to be a good thing; to be totally absorbed in the activity of drawing, or painting for instance. That sort of activity requires a rather Zen like concentration, but so many times I forget to “see” when thought takes over.

What do you mean, when thought takes over?

This conversation seems to be going in circles, but really it’s not. To be totally absorbed in what one is doing removes thought.

Are you saying thought is not a good thing?

Not exactly; more to the point, and it is a very fine point, would be to say that thought interferes with being totally present. Perhaps awareness requires a silent mind, not a dull or a bored mind, but rather a quiet mind, a one pointed mind.

What?

A one pointed mind is just that. An awareness without thought, behind an activity, any activity. If I’m walking down the street, and “thinking” of things I’m going to do tomorrow, I’m not aware of walking, because of the talking in my head. I’m not aware of the tiny flecks of mica in the street, which I may never see again from that particular position, or the angle of the three birds streaking across the sky, or the yellow truck followed by the red car with the dent in the side. Only if my mind is quiet will I see what is only there once to see. It is always changing; it is never the same, and that is truely a miracle, every moment a miracle.

“Our mind is capable of passing beyond the dividing line we have drawn for it. Beyond the pairs of opposites of which the world consists, other, new insights begin.”

–Hermann Hesse

Maybe, because it’s Tuesday you’d like to answer some of these questions for yourself, or maybe not, because that would require too much thinking.

“Designated driver, on the information highway.”

April 22, 2003 by jfMac

Tuesday Too

I.) How are you going to honor, or what are you going to give the earth on Earth Day?

2.) How come there’s only one “real” question, and how come there are three Tuesday Toos in a row?

Don’t ask me; I’m only the messenger.

“There are no passengers on spaceship earth. We are all crew.”

–Marshall McLuhan

“Designated driver, on the information highway.”

April 15, 2003 by jfMac

Tuesday Too

1.) How would you explain the impossible?

2.) Invent, and define a new word for the dictionary of the future?

3.) Was the media coverage of the war bias? Did you watch the coverage? Why, or why not?

“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it’s time to pause and reflect.”

–Mark Twain

Post your URL in the comment.

“Designated driver, on the information highway.”

April 8, 2003 by jfMac

Tuesday Too

1.) When was the last time someone surprised you? What did they do?

It was last night; that’s really what made me think of the question. I was in a local bar, talking with a woman that I’ve had conversations with maybe 3, or 4 times prior to last night. I said, “that’s a beautiful sweater you’re wearing,” and later in the evening she took it off and gave it to me. Yes she had something on under the sweater! It was such an open, and trusting thing to do. I hesitated, and she insisted. I was genuinely surprised and pleased. Now I’m wondering what I might have that I can give to her. It must be something she will be pleased with.

2.) Alright then, it’s similar to a googlewhack, but different. You must come up with two words, spelled correctly and within quotes that google will produce only 1 result for, and that result must be your site. Unless you’re already a rather unusual wordsmith it might take you a couple of days for goolge to find a combination you invent and find no result for currently.

“If you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about one year ago today.”

–Rotarian

Post your URL in the comment.

“Designated driver, on the information highway.”

April 7, 2003 by jfMac

Shock and Awe

Michelle Shocked and Awe Dr. Phil. Medea Benjamin was also on this Dr. Phil show.

What do you mean by Awe Dr. Phil?

Awe as in, awe come on Dr. Phil, don’t pretend to defend the right to speak out, while not quite politely, and as a matter of fact rudely insisting that speaking/demonstrating against the war is helping the enemy. If that’s true we really aught to just go on and call them traitors, rather then calling you a fascist. But, let’s not get things [drawkcab].

I don’t get it yesterday you were making lists, and today you’re talking about fascism?

Sometimes, I get things backward. I saw this show on Friday afternoon. It’s the first time I ever watched this show, and I was so upset by his faulty logic I turned it off twice during his hour long debacle (transcript).

It’s not nice to say nasty things about Dr. Phil. Don’t you know lots of people adore him?

So what? I don’t take Dr. Phil pills. In my book he makes adore, as in a door stop.

“Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.”

–George Washington

“Designated driver, on the information highway.”

April 5, 2003 by jfMac

Lists

What lists?

Things I want/need to do today/yesterday. For instance right here I want to add a set of links on the side bar to the Mr. Potatoehead Chronicles, and I want a link to a page that’s just my art work. In real life…

Real life?

You know that thing we do when we’re not on the computer. Now that I think about it much of my “real life” is spent on the computer. How much will i spend, as in at what cost today. I say that, because one of the other time consuming things on my to do list is redesigning/updating artattackcentral.com. And, my painting another thing on my list, while unrelated directly to the computer, the image I’m working from is a photo enlarged, enhanced, cropped and printed on the computer.

Speaking of computer time, remember when I said if you put quotes around “pavlovian speakeasy” Google comes up with a big fat 0. Well that was 3 days ago. Yesterday I typed it in, and viola there it is with one result, me of course.

So why are telling us this?

It might be a heads up on a Tuesday Too question. Maybe it’s easy for you to come up with a two word (spelled correctly), in quotes combination that produces your site as the one result, or maybe it’s not. If it’s not, you’ll have to invent a combination, and it will take a day or two for google to pick it up. In that case, you’d better get started now, unless of course you don’t give a rats ass about failing the Tuesday Too.

And speaking of rats, that’s something else on the list: Lab Rat needs to be updated (see more computer stuff).

I thought Lab Rat was dead?

She’ll be brought back from the dead, just like a soap opera queen. The soy study sent me a letter stating they’re now accepting smokers into the study. I’ll let you know when Lab Rat catches her breath, and starts spinning her exercise wheel again.

Anything else?

I want to make a 5 min. movie with my digital camera, which I think means hooking together several 1 min. movies. I know nothing about how to do this, so here we go, more time on the internet seeking out information, and freeware programs. Perhaps I don’t have time for real life.

Are you going to do all this today?

Do you think I’m crazy? I’ll be lucky/pushing it to get it done this week.

“Designated driver, on the information highway.”

April 3, 2003 by jfMac

Painting

Finally I started a new painting yesterday afternoon. Drinking wine, smoking and painting at the same time, I heard the dreaded “beep beep beep”. I threw my brush down, and dashed through the hall shouting, “what, what, what?” There sat Abbott reading The Washington Post, while Elliott was once again trying to dismantle the keyboard. I gave both of them a proper tongue lashing.

Yesterday it was “mouth-watering;” today it’s a “tongue lashing.” Do you have an oral fixation?

Well I did say, we need to redefine the word “speakeasy.” Perhaps it’s the opposite of a tongue lashing.

“The basis of optimism is sheer terror.”

–Oscar Wilde

“It is better to be compex than to have one”

–jf Cates

“Designated driver, on the information highway.”

April 2, 2003 by jfMac

Dogs At The Pavlovian Speakeasy

Abbott, Su and I went to Niwanna a Japanese/Korean restaurant last night. It’s located on 33rd St. very close to Johns Hopkins University. I love sushi; someday I’ll just eat sushi and nothing else. I’m also a fool for Korean food; I like it hot, hot, hot. I wonder if I’ve burned my taste buds out, and thus they require constant stimulation. No don’t go there! That’s not what I meant.

Well just what did you mean?

No amount of nudging, begging or pleading will make me tell you. However, I have been known to accept bribes.

How about some gazpacho soup?

Okay, you’ve got me. What I really meant was if your taste buds are truly captured by the essence of a particular food, you will not be able to resist it. All resistance is futile. Do not attempt to escape mouth-watering foods. Mouth-watering? What does that really mean? We’re creating a Pavlovian speakeasy.

Pavlovian speakeasy?

Boy is that weird; you get 23 results on Google for it, but if you put quotes around it you get a big fat 0. I wonder what you would serve at the Pavlovian Speakeasy? I know you would have to serve illegal alcoholic beverages to qualify for the name speakeasy in it’s original definition. I think therefore, we should redefine the word so it will have a practical use in today’s world. How about the word bootlegger from the same era? My grandfather was a bootlegger, or so I’ve been told.

Click on the image to enlarge.

One of the things I remember about him was that he used to make little dogs out of chenille. He was old then, and crippled from a fall on the ice that occurred during the time when he was a used car dealer in Washington DC., after prohibition was over. He used to sell the dogs at a craft fair in Braddock Heights Maryland. There was a huge sliding board at the fair. You would climb up a long ramp to reach the top; the slide was about 12 feet wide and at least 50 feet high, and by today’s standards probably dangerous as hell. The gleaming metal was hot in the summer time.

PS Some how the Tuesday Too comment is now with the KittyKat De-Konstruction Kompany Post; I fear this is the work of Elliott.

“Designated driver, on the information highway.”

April 1, 2003 by jfMac

Tuesday Too

1.) Describe your most recent sexual encounter. APRIL FOOL! However, if you really want to do that, go ahead.

2.) Does your state/county have some form of legalized gambling other than the lottery? What do you think about on online gambling? Is gambling really connected to organized crime?